Diary of a Six Feet Under virgin – Old friends, new lovers

by Bob Degon

Six Feet Under

(Season 5, Episodes 7-8)

The number of episodes left is dwindling. I’ve started to ration the remaining installments, trying to stretch out the Six Feet Under experience. With the way these final episodes are shaping up, however, I’m having trouble. I really just want to have a marathon session and watch the last half of the season in one sitting, but I’m not going to do that…. At least I don’t think I am going to do that.

“The Silence”

Claire actually seems to be settling in at her new job. I’m a little surprised. I thought for sure that she was going to get out of there as fast as possible and re-enroll in art school. I mean, that office really looks like some kind of bizarre hellscape… for Claire at least. I’m curious to see where Claire is going to end up when this show is said and done.

It was refreshing to finally see a nice moment between David and Keith and Durrell, as they snuck into his school play. Durrell actually ended up pleased that his new parents showed up and supported him. I hope this marks the beginning of a turnaround for David and Keith with the kids.

I don’t know how I feel about Ruth tracking down George’s new fiance and telling her all about George’s problems. I can see both sides of it. I really think she crossed a line, but at the same time his new fiancee did have a right to know exactly what she was getting herself into.

“Singing for Our Lives”

Brenda and Nate. What can I say that hasn’t already been said? These two are a train wreck. They continue to have almost nothing in common, as evidenced by the completely opposite views that they took in regards to the Quaker service. Of course, with the big surprise at the end of the episode (and I don’t mean Nate sleeping with Maggie), I don’t know if it’s even worth discussing Nate and Brenda’s future…. Does Nate even have any future at all?

I guess it’s one step forward and two steps back for Keith and David and their boys. After a nice moment in the last episode, they discovered that Durrell was regularly joy riding in Keith’s SUV. However, it seems like the kids are starting to realize that David and Keith are serious about the situation, and when Keith begins discussing future vacations that they would take as a family, it seemed to sink in even further. I hope everything works out.

The Fisher women (whose lives seem to mirror each others’ more often than not) both caught up with some old friends in this episode. Claire returned to art school for a show, catching up with her old friends, including Olivier. After seeing her there, I think it’s pretty clear that she is done with art school. Is she really destined to be an office drone, though? I just don’t see it. Ruth, meanwhile, dropped in for a visit with Hiram and fell right back into the old relationship with him. It will be interesting to see if anything happens with that, or if it was just a fleeting encounter.

I know I said I was rationing episodes, but with Nate’s fate hanging in the balance, I’m having a hard time holding back.